Select board highlights: Reorganizing, upcoming appointments, new meeting times start in April

March 31, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti 

At its organizational meeting on March 17, the Waterbury Select Board re-elected Alyssa Johnson and Kane Sweeney as chair and vice chair and decided it would move its meeting times up 30 minutes, beginning in April. 

Board member Mike Bard was absent, so the votes for chair and vice chair were 3-0 with Johnson and Sweeney each abstaining on the vote involving their position. Bard was chosen as board secretary having expressed willingness prior to the meeting, according to several members.  

The board meets tonight at 7 p.m. in the Steele Room at the municipal building, immediately following a Board of Abatement meeting at 6 p.m.

Going forward, however, the select board has agreed to shift its meeting start time to 6:30 p.m., starting with its April 7 meeting. The group holds regular meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month with special meetings added in as business dictates. On the 17th, the board discussed and decided to add additional regular meetings in months where there happens to be a fifth Monday. 

March 17 was the board’s first regular meeting following the Town Meeting Day election where Sweeney and Bard won re-election and new member Tori Taravella was elected for the first time to the board. 

The board held a brief special meeting on Friday, March 14, to approve a last-minute special event permit request by Smugglers Notch Distillery for an event on March 15 at Vermont Artisan Coffee & Tea. Three members – Johnson, Sweeney and Taravella – attended, fulfilling the three-person requirement for quorum, and approved the request. 

Other organizational business the board covered on March 17 included naming the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus as the town’s newspaper of record with direction to town staff to also publish town legal notices online with Waterbury Roundabout. 

The board also approved its rules of procedure going forward but tabled an item pertaining to a new state law covering ethics and conflicts of interest. Municipal Manager Tom Leitz pointed out that an existing town policy is more detailed than the new state law. The new law also contains a requirement to designate a specific process for handling complaints. The board agreed to table the measure so a comparison between the two approaches could be made and a proposal drafted for the board on how it would handle ethics complaints in the future. 

Board members also noted that there is new information regarding Vermont’s Open Meeting law with a summary training video available from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns that they each will review. 

Appointments, including school board 

Looking ahead, the board agreed that it would consider appointments to various town boards and commissions in April, starting with its April 7 meeting. Most appointments have ending dates of April 30 and the board will review those upcoming openings at the March 31 meeting in order to solicit applicants for those roles. It also plans to review its assignments where each board member acts as a liaison with town boards and committees as a way to ensure communication between the select board and the appointed municipal boards. 

The board also plans to interview applicants for the two Waterbury openings on the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board that remain following the March 4 election. All four of Waterbury’s positions on that board were on the Town Meeting Day ballot with just two candidates – Corey Hackett and Rob Dabrowski running unopposed and being elected to a two-year term and a three-year term respectively. 

The school board makes appointments to fill vacancies after an election, taking into consideration recommendations from the select board in the town where the vacancy is from. Appointees then serve until the following Town Meeting Day election, regardless of how long the position’s term is. The school board is aiming to make appointments to the Waterbury seats and one Duxbury opening at its April 16 meeting. 

On Sunday, School Board Chair Ashley Woods said that she had received letters of interest from five candidates interested in the Waterbury positions and none yet for the Duxbury opening. The Waterbury applicants are Dan Roscioli and Elizabeth Brown, both of whom were appointed last April and served until the March election. Neither ran for election but have expressed interest in serving another year. The three others who have applied are Brooks Fortune, Pamela Eaton and Kristin Blauvelt, according to Woods. 

Town Meeting debrief & other business

Also on the 17th, the board had a lengthy discussion regarding Town Meeting and the vote to retain Waterbury’s in-person meeting format where financial questions and public questions are decided. Town Meeting attendees voted 144-64 against putting financial questions on the all-day Australian Ballot; on a voice vote they rejected changing how public questions are decided. 

In addition to the board members, several town residents at the meeting participated in the discussion including former Waterbury Select Board member and chair Chris Viens, Lisa Walton, Kelly Lake, Valerie Rogers and Evan Hoffman. All shared their views on what the vote and March 4 debate meant. There was discussion about whether any steps should be taken to improve Town Meeting Day accessibility and participation in the future given that fewer than 5% of the town’s registered voters attended this year’s meeting. The board, however, did not move to suggest any next steps at this time.  

Leits updated the board about the project to create a rental registry registration that will catalog all commercial and residential rental properties in town. New software will be used for the effort, Leitz said, that that is being installed and tested. The board agreed to set the rental registration deadline to April 30 to give town staff time to notify property owners of the new requirement and time for them to sign up. 

The board also signed off on applying for a state planning grant for funds that would be used by the Planning Commission and Conservation Commission in putting together the 10-year update to the Town Plan. 

The board heard from Leitz and Waterbury’s state Rep. Theresa Wood regarding a request to the state to transfer the Randall Meadow property near the State Office Complex to the town of Waterbury for flood mitigation efforts. Both officials were to testify to a House legislative committee on March 19. The request has been included in the draft Capital Budget bill now making its way through the legislature. Read more about that here. 

Leitz also offered several other updates. One was that hiring summer recreation camp staff is going well and that it may be possible to open camp enrollment to additional children from the wait list, he said. 

Leitz said he also is following a proposal in the legislature that would alter the split of revenue from local option taxes between the state and municipalities. Currently, municipalities receive 70% of the funds from their local option taxes with the state receiving 30%, he said. The proposal would shift the local share to 80%. Waterbury began levying local option sales taxes in July 2024 and expects under the current arrangement that the 1% on local sales, rooms, meals and alcohol transactions will generate $750,000 this year.  

Leitz also notified the board that the Edward Farrar Utility District Board of Commissioners may add to its May 14 annual meeting warning a question asking voters to approve a study of costs/benefits to merging the utility district functions – primarily running the water and wastewater departments – with town government. Read more about the upcoming EFUD annual meeting here.  

Executive session

At the end of the meeting, the board entered executive session for two topics: a labor relations agreement and pending litigation. 

Town officials are working to prepare for contract negotiations with municipal staff who have petitioned to form a labor union. The board’s discussions regarding contract talks are held in closed session until an agreement is reached.

The board briefly returned to public session to unanimously approve a draft judgment order in the case involving the state’s appeal to Environmental Court of the town’s interpretation of its zoning regulations regarding the state’s use of the former National Guard armory. Last year, the state opened a family shelter at the armory and the town zoning administrator said the building use would need a local permit if the state was to hire non-state employees to run the shelter. The state has maintained that the shelter is being overseen by state workers. 

Leitz said he could not share the details of the agreement that the select board approved until the state also signed off on the document. 

March 31 meeting 

The March 31 Waterbury Select Board meeting has a long agenda including discussion of safety concerns at the intersection of Vermont Route 100, Blush Hill Road and Stowe Street. A 2017 study that looked at improving pedestrian safety between that intersection and Laurel Lane is included in meeting materials online. 

The board may hear from a representative of the Vermont State Police, which handles local policing service for the town. Other topics include the work of the Conservation Commission, upcoming appointments to local boards and commissions, fire service contracts with Moretown and Duxbury, and a possible communications position in town government.  

Tonight’s meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Steele Room and via Zoom (link on the agenda). Watch recordings of Waterbury Select Board meetings online at ORCAMedia.net.